call center representative

customer service representative

handler

collection agent

debt collector

KURA

I took the job as a stopgap during the COVID lockdown as it was advertised as working from home. I thought it would be a straightforward job to get into and pay the bills in the short term. I’d done call centre work a while back and thought I knew what I was getting into. I saw a few reviews, and thought “Surely it can’t be that bad?” It was that bad! 

To be fair, the recruitment process was efficient, and I was offered a job the same day as the interview, working on the Scottish Power customer service contract. The fact is was so quick probably should have been a red flag, but I really needed the money, so I held my nose and took the plunge.

The training started a week later. It was 4 weeks working from home on Zoom and Slack, with 40 new starters. The trainers themselves seemed knowledgeable and approachable when I had specific questions, but the material itself was kind of patchy. The first big clue about the chaotic nature of the place was when the group got a new trainer in the second week halfway through the day, with no notice and she didn’t initially know what had been taught and what hadn’t.

Because the group was so big, I didn’t get more than one or two short attempts at using the training systems. We listened to some example calls (the bread and butter of call centre training), but didn’t get a coherent set of processes to refer to, and at the end of training I didn’t feel equipped to deal with even basic queries.

During training, I found out that Kura don’t pay their employees wages until a month after the end of the month worked - so essentially there’s a 2 month gap between starting and getting your first month’s pay. They aren’t the only outsourcing company who do this, but it’s still dodgy and comes across like the company is avoiding paying you until the last possible opportunity. It’s almost like putting down a deposit to work there. After some chopping and changing of dates and figures, the training team were offered an advance of £400, paid at the end of week 3.

After 4 weeks on Zoom, we were bundled into the office for a week of grad bay. We were told to arrive 30 minutes before the start of our allotted shift to get set up, and that this time wouldn’t be paid. Everyone had their temperature measured before being allowed inside and we were told if it was above a certain level we’d be sent home – luckily, I didn’t find out if this would be with or without pay.

The manager on duty barely welcomed us in, and waved the group over to the far corner to log in. The building was empty apart from the new group and a few mentors. We weren’t introduced to anyone, shown around, or even given a health and safety briefing.  We were told to get on the phones to start taking calls straight away and put our hand up if we got stuck, which of course everyone did on every call.

We were told not to bring paper notes with us, which is standard in call centres, so I’d sent myself reminders on Slack and email for the dozen or so usernames and passwords we’d been given, as recommended in training. But neither of these were accessible from the office computers because of course they weren’t. When I told a manager, I was told to just “figure it out” as we were “being paid to take calls, not just sit there.” I was very tempted to walk out, but I swallowed my pride and gradually figured out my logins without locking myself out.

Everything about the company computer systems was locked down so much and so glitchy that it made it difficult to do the job. Little things like copy/pasting text didn’t work properly so it was very easy to lose customer details and reference numbers when navigating between systems, and screenshots were disabled too which made getting help more difficult. Random pages would fail to load, and the menu to switch between a customer’s gas and electricity accounts didn’t work, so you’d have to refresh the page, risking dropping the call, and find the customer’s details again. It was as if everything was designed to be as unusable as possible.

There was no opportunity for one-to-one coaching to get comfortable with using the live systems or call handling software – it was straight in at the deep end. From day 1, there was a target of zero wrap time and a maximum of 1 minute hold time which is completely unreasonable to expect of new employees who don’t know their way around the systems. It also means no-one had time to leave notes on a customer’s account, so if they called back about a recurrent issue, they’d have to explain it all again. Great customer service there!

Another manager appeared part way through the day to shout out the names of trainees who were using hold or wrap, even if they had their hand up trying to get help on a call. No reason was deemed acceptable. There was no time to learn or ask questions of the mentors to get a deeper understanding of anything. Some of the mentors were helpful, but others would give a one sentence answer to a different question before walking away. I also had a ‘coaching’ meeting in the office where a bored mentor read through a PowerPoint I’d already seen while she checked her phone, and then cut the meeting short to take a personal phone call.

I went half an hour over on my first shift because most of the mentors disappeared on the dot at the end of the day, while trainees were still finishing their calls. There was a surreal moment where most of the 20 trainees were sat at their desks with their hands up for help after the shift had officially ended, with only two mentors left to help. Two managers were still there but they didn’t move from their desks. The contempt towards the trainees was almost funny. I think it was at this point I decided I was going to do my best for the customers but not bother trying to meet the insane targets.

After a couple of days, we were told to stop putting our hands up and post our questions in a Slack messenger group and our mentors would answer them there. Meanwhile, names would still be called out constantly if a customer was on hold or a new advisor was using wrap time. The mentors often lost patience with the messages and would come over to explain in person anyway. They encouraged us to retrieve and hold the customer repeatedly while waiting for help so that the total hold time didn’t show on the managers’ screens.

On the Thursday, less than a week after starting grad bay, we were told to work from home the next day, and apparently any downtime due to technical issues wouldn’t be paid unless we could prove it was a fault with the company’s equipment rather than ‘user error’. If we had any downtime due to internet outages, we’d have to claim back that missed pay from our ISP ourselves. I don’t know if that’s legal, but it certainly shows contempt for the employees. Luckily my home internet behaved itself.

Because the only support was on Slack, a quick glance to check or clarify something became a frantic 5-10-minute flurry of messages while the customer was waiting on the line. Meanwhile, I would be getting messages from other mentors or managers (I still don’t know who was who) asking why I had a customer on hold. I even had mentors call my mobile and leave voicemails to check up on me, which I missed because I was, shockingly, at work taking calls.

I knew from the first call that I hadn’t been given the knowledge, tools, or support to do the job, and when customers complained to me about the problems they’d had with Scottish Power (i.e. Kura), I couldn’t in good conscience disagree with them. When I tried to investigate and fix long standing problems that customers had called about 3 or 4 times, I would get harassed for taking too long. The culture of Kura encourages passing the buck, token gestures, and getting the customer off the phone as quick as possible. All call centres have targets, but Kura seems to value everything above helping the customers and allowing the employees to do it.

After a couple of weeks taking calls, I realised that I wanted no part of it anymore and went to hand in my resignation. But even this wasn’t as easy as it would first seem! I didn’t have a manager assigned to me yet, or if I did I hadn’t been told who it was. So I emailed the trainer who was listed as my line manager before noticing she hadn’t been online all week and remembering she on holiday. So I emailed another trainer/manager who said she would call me, but didn’t, and then told me to email a different manager who would call me and so far hasn’t.

As of writing this, it’s been 4 days and my resignation hasn’t been accepted or acknowledged. So, I guess I’m just… leaving? I’ve worked a few jobs I didn't enjoy, but always agreed to work my notice period as a matter of principle but Kura don’t seem to care. 

The managers were rude and dismissive, as were some of the mentors, and there was a general air of demoralisation, disorganisation, and chaos about the place. It was the Fawlty Towers of call centres and I won’t miss it.


The training is awful. That position needs to go and they need to do more on the job training instead. Instead of having people write in workbooks and look at outdated slides. Do more on the job training because that 4 weeks of training does not help you when you move onto the phones at all. 
 
When they finally let you listen to some calls (which they need to do more of in training) they team you up with another advisor to listen to their calls. You get a set of headphones to listen however you can't hear the  conversation because the other advisor taking the call needs to hear more than you do...so the majority of the sound is played through their headphones, so you're basically sitting there twiddling your thumbs, which you may think sounds great to just sit there doing nothing, but when you get papped on the phones with no clue what to do, its a different story. Then you can't ask questions to the advisor because they need to move onto the next call, or their team leader moans at them for waiting too long so you don't learn.

The workbooks are pointless, because we were told we could take them into grad and refer to them when needed, which was pointless, because they lost our workbooks. Which is ironic, because we were told we couldn't take our books home because it was a breach of security. So they were to be stored and locked away, yet the people in charge were the ones who ended up losing the workbooks. It slowed everything down because we had to sit with our hand in the air waiting for a mentor to come and there were only two or three mentors, yet around 20 of us so they couldn't get to us all on time, so you're customer gets more angry waiting on hold for so long.

My mentor told me to hang up on an angry customer because she was too hungover to help me help the customer. This customer was an old lady who couldn't afford her bills, freezing cold and had to move her bed into the livingroom just to preserve heat. 
Another mentor told me to stop asking so many questions. 

The grad manager seemed more worried about getting everyone out on the front line, rather than making sure people knew what they were doing

99% of the calls are complaints. they should really advertise the job role as that. It is NOT a customer service advisor role

I always wondered before taking the job why the reviews were so bad on here, but after taking the job I now know why

out of everyone in my team of around 20 people, only 2 people actually stayed after 1 week of being on the phones because it's that bad and then they both left too

As an advisor you're targeted on your call time, wrap up and hold time.
You're made to feel guilty if you don't get enough customers taking up boiler covers even though they say sales aren't part of the job..
There's alao very little support and you have little access to the things you need such as the national database. 

They'll also give you grief for raising too many complaints for dissatisfied customers, but will also try to hit you with gross misconduct if you don't raise a complaint for a dissatisfied customer who contacts the ombudsman. 
They'll use every trick in the book to put the blame back on the staff member saying accountability etc. It's a no win situation. 

Some managers are ok, but the majority are clueless. 
Kura pride themselves on developing their people yet often advertise for external team managers which is quite concerning considering they claim that they are unrivalled in developing staff to help them "cross the bridge "

In complaints a lot of which are complex and require time to be fixed) they are more interested in how many calls are being made to customers as opposed to actually resolving the issues. 
You also won't have access to a lot of things to do the job effectively such as Ecoes and Xsoserve, the ability to reverse bills more than 12 months old to rebill accounts and essentially resolve a lot of complaints.
There are people who have access to these things, but you'll have a long wait which will put pressure on you for not getting closes through no fault of your own and the management won't care and attempt to make you feel guilty. 
This alao applies to waiting weeks sometimes months on an offshore team updating accounts to show correct meter details after meter exchanges,  but you'll still be questioned on why the complaints aren't being closed. 

They also used to have BPS( bonus pay scheme)every 3 months n which if you met your targets you could earn an extra £200 per month, but they stopped this.

Poor management and processes,  you are just a number in a bully culture , do as I say not as I do environment.
If you're desperate for a job then apply, but there's better employment out there where the employer will actually care and value their employees. 

I'm a firm believer of any job will do, moneys money at the end of the day and disappointingly money makes the world go round

The work is good, current campaign I'm on is decent but has recently been decided that it will be ramping down. That comes hand in hand with call centre work but the bad side to this is that it could of been made clearer in the interview stage that I was joining a Ramp Up/Down campaign.

Took weeks to get the relevant details to actually do the job (log ins to the clients systems) due to communication error with the client and the people who make the log ins.

Training was brilliant and really got me excited to work for the campaign. Was an easy passover from Training to Grad Bay to Live Operations(When we eventually got our details) but it felt like we were left out high and dry when my training group did get out onto the call floor as our first day live, that's when we found out we were getting moved campaign. Grad Bay was promised as a Safe Haven during training but this turned out not to be the case as due to explained previous problems, the mentors that were meant to be with us all had to use their holidays before the end of march. (some had a full week worth of holidays, some had a couple of days) This meant that we were left with one mentor looking after a whole training group. Fair play to him he done a decent job.

Staff & Management are above board and respect that you may not know everything and need help. Communications from management in regards to dealing with a customer based query can be a hit or a miss, this can be put down to working different shifts and various other reasons.

All in all, not a bad place to work. Social life doesn't really matter to me as long as I get time with my partner in which I do. I was put off Call Centre work after working for Virgin Media but working under Kura has made me understand that it's not the business itself that causes the stress, it's definitely the campaign. I would recommend dependent on who I am recommending it too.

Try it for yourself. The only time you hear feedback about a job/company/product is when something is bad. Don't judge a job by its reviews.

I had worked at Kura for a year and a half full time and a further year part time. The part time was due to myself wanting to go back to university. Initially Kura were supportive of this. I dropped to 21 hours a week and worked this over the course of a year. Upon needing to change my days not my hours is when issues began to arise. The change of days was agreed with my manager and with Ops. However the days went on being changed on a day by day basis. I was fine with this initially as they told me changes can take four weeks to initiate. However this went on for 16 weeks. This caused problems for myself as I was unable to book holidays that were specific to my studies. This left me with no choice but to go AWOL to which when returning to work, I was warned I would be taken to investigation. This is in spite of informing them of my commitments to uni through emails to my manager. The investigation was postponed multiple times over the next two weeks. With all of this going on and stress of deadlines mounting I handed in a sick line. With still attending University I still see colleagues heading to work, to which one told me my manager had been complaining publicly about issues that I assume would be confidential. According to them I was dodging the investigation that was postponed multiple times in a two week period to which I was in work to attend. I renewed my sick line a further two times, Before viewing my timetable for the next semester. Upon receiving said timetable, I made a judgement call that Kura would be unwilling to support any changes that would need to be made to the change in timetable considering the previous semester had been agreed and never changed over the 16 week period of waiting.
Colleagues are supportive and as per usual one of the better parts of the job as they face the same adversity. 
Management in pockets are good but outshone by the downright incompetent ones. 
workplace culture is quite toxic as micromanagement is rife.

I was part of a TUPE from Capita to Kura on the ScottishPower campaign and worked on the campaign for almost 4 years - around 2 years were at Kura. As part of our transition, we were promise by Kura how good and shiny things were and how they like to look after their people. 

In fact, Kura does very little to look after their people. They sell the company using fancy social media campaigns and promise the world when in fact it is probably the most depressing place you could ever set foot in. Colleagues are great, most team managers are great however the direction coming from above and the philosophy of the company is depressing and very different to the image they portray on face value and online through social channels.

The recruitment team will do whatever they can do to get you through the door as they are very target driven and under pressure to get bums on seats. The process does not offer a true reflection of what the ‘Kura way’ is about really about. They’ll employ you but if you’re not up to scratch within 6 weeks of your start date, you’ll be let go at the end of ‘grad bay’. Kura claim their aim is to be ‘unrivalled in developing people’.. when in reality if you aren’t what they expected, you won’t be developed you’ll be shown the door. 

Your colleagues and most managers will be lovely if you’re one of the unlucky ones that makes it past the six weeks, but the company is rotten at the core and it slowly seeps through. 

Pay is low and below average, ‘perks’ are below standard and don’t come close to what other employers offer. A measly 3% contribution pension scheme, don’t be sick because you won’t get paid. The company will also always owe you 2 weeks pay because of their outdated and blizzare payroll system. Be sick on more than three occasions in a six month period and your P45 will be on its way with a first class stamp.

As i went through the interview process, i was not made aware that you need to pass a series of calls during gradbay before actually starting the job! A few people failed and was left jobless after leaving other jobs which i find discusting and on top of this they also didnt mention that you have sales targets to make on calls too, they keep saying its not sales (which it is) The atmosphere is horrible and staff are walking around like zombies due to the companys strict rules and regulations, its all about stats stats stats, being as quick as you possibly can on every call otherwise you get an email from the TL asking you constantly why you are a few seconds over aftercall or why you were taking a bit extra time on a call, then pull you constantly for your quality score when almost everyone who works there are getting low quality scores due to their poor slow buggy systems and unrealistic targets that causes stress, I would avoid going for this job if you value your mental health as they make you feel worthless and that is not the case, They sacked me because i struggled to keep up with their unrealistic demands and even though i am currantly looking for another job, i feel so relieved to not having to get up in the morning to go to a place that claims to put their employees first but dont, they dont care about their employees, if you are not good enough then they will replace you at the drop of a hat, claiming they tried to help you but didnt, avoid like the plague!

If I could give this place one star, I would. Firstly, the only reason why I stuck around as long as I did was because of the friends I made at the call centre. You are promised the world when you apply to work here, you’re told X, Y, Z and they actively promote progression when the reality is, you could be waiting months and months to even get a look in on a higher up role, yet they will give it to someone who has poor stats/not been there very long or they won’t even bother to acknowledge you. The stats are almost impossible to hit too, you’re prompted to get out of hold yet offered no resolution to the customer. Policies change all the time too, yet you’re sent a half worded email about policy changes and you’re meant to fit it into your call structure, but stat goals don’t change. You have a customer who is clearly agitated and wants someone higher up, this is something they never get, but you on the other end of the line get the brunt of it. ‘POD’ support is a joke too, half of them have no idea what they’re doing and I’m convinced they are all sat there half at their desks half doing other things whilst working from home, they are all clearly still in their jobs and not quit or left because they do nothing all day. The ONLY positive thing I’ve got to say is, the pay is half okay for a call centre, but if you’re looking to keep your mental health in shape? avoid KURA like covid-19. They don’t know a good thing until it’s actually walked out of their doors! 

Ive worked for kura now for 6 and a half years and have seen it change and improve a lot since the Kura takeover. The focus is very much on how you are doing and feeling in your job and if there are any issues these are adressed and acted on. The management are always willing to help but not only that but there is a real culture of peer support aswell with more experienced agent happy and willing to offer support when needed which I have experienced from both giving and receiving help. I have been surprised working here at the level of understanding and the flexability shown by Kura which after suffering a bereavement was allowed time off for compassionate leave and it was made clear to me that I was not expected to return until I was ready and no pressure was put on me to rush back. The shifts at Kura are good and the company are extremely helpful with being flexible for those with childcare concerns and committments. The job can be difficult as I work in Customer Services on the EDF energy campaign and you never know what issues a customer is going to be having but as mentioned earlier, with the level of support I don't feel overwhelmed. The pay is competative and is on par with a lot of other callcenters and better than some. overall Kura is a company that as long as you are willing to put an effort in with the job you will have a secure and positive work experience.

To start off, I had 4 weeks training which was absolutely amazing and never had a problem with, my trainer was so lovely and helpful. Then the worst came when you got into the actual job and become out of your probationary period, you’ll literally feel helpless. 

First some of the managers are so helpful and listen to your problems but other managers are so horrible and do not care and listen! They will not give you any sympathy at all including when a family member dies. Then, holidays are so hard to take off as it’s the worst system ever, and you have to do it all through how many hours are available and people will NOT switch your shift. 

Sick Days are impossible to take off since you get 1 disciplinary for taking one day, and you’ll get meetings after meetings about it even if it’s something severe. They will also ask you to update you during the day. The floor support is not too bad but they will pick they’re favourites over you. If you have a shift pattern that has a Saturday, you have to work every single Saturday while others have every Saturday off and getting a Saturday off for holiday is also impossible. 

This place will stress you out, and affect your emotions if you’re an emotional person, several people have been signed off by doctors from this job which just proves how bad it is. The customers are alright, and I did enjoy having conversations with them, but when you got a bad call, they speak to you like dirt.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Call center representative 1 salary reported	£26,208 per year
Customer service representative 5 salaries reported	£13.57 per hour
Handler 4 salaries reported	£25,760 per year
Collection agent 12 salaries reported	£24,960 per year
Debt collector 118 salaries reported	£24,501 per year

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